The Promise
by MaplePucks
Summary: James plans to tell Jessie how he feels about her but Cacnea severly injures him in a show of it's own affection. Jessie shows off her nursing skills, will James survive long enough to tell her? Angsty Rocketshipping fic.


**First Rocketshipping fic! Bit angsty but thats the way I like it! I don't own Pokemon or Team Rocket.**

We join two Team Rocket agents in the forest practicing their battling techniques before an upcoming mission. The male grass-type trainer was clearly winning this battle against the poison-type female trainer.  
>"Excellent Cacnea! One more Pin Missile attack should finish your foe off!" the lavender headed trainer shouted gleefully at the oddly shaped, spiked, plant like creature at his feet.<p>

"Cac-NEA!" it yelled pointing it's branch like arms at its' snake like opponent. White needles flew out in all directions.

"Seviper, Dig!" the crimson haired female bellowed at the serpent. It dug a hole swiftly and dodged the attack. Even though his pokemon had missed the opportunity to finish the match, the man smiled at the red head.

"Nice move Jessie!" he called out to her, she smiled back at him.

"James, better watch out, Seviper, Rock Slide!" She shouted. The dark blue snake burst from the ground, showering the green plant with huge boulders. It fell weakly to the ground.

"Cacnea is unable ta battle, da winner is Seviper!" A cat-type pokemon with the unusual gift of gab proclaimed. James hung his head down and walked over to his fallen pokemon.

"Lost again, you're a great trainer Jessie. Seviper is very powerful!" He conceded as he kneeled down beside Cacnea.

"James, you're a great trainer too, one of these days you'll beat me. I know you will!" She said patting her snake on the head.

"Youse hafta screw up real bad for dat ta happen Jess." The cat said.

"Meowth! That's not true!" She said very quickly but gave the pokemon a mischievous grin.

"Whateva," the pokemon offered in weak reply examining his claws closely. James looked down at his worn out, but spirited companion.

"Either way, you did fabulous Cacnea." He said sweetly. The creature smiled and hopped into his trainers arms. James tried his best to prepare himself for what was next.

"Cacnea!" it said cheerfully squeezing James with all his might in a tight embrace. The cactus pushed it's needles deep into his skin, most of them piercing his soft flesh. The pokemon didn't mean to cause harm, he loved James, and it was just his way of showing deep affection. James winced, but returned the hug. He put the pokemon down and pulled out the creature's pokeball.

"Cacnea…Return" he said rather weakly pointing the ball at Cacnea. A red light streamed out to absorb the pokemon into its home. James' friends looked at him with mild concern.

"Jimmy, youse ok?" Meowth asked. He looked over to them and stood up attaching the pokeball gingerly to his belt. He held his arms out and they could see the faintest hint of fresh red blood on his white jacket.

"Never…better" he said. Suddenly he wrapped his arms around his stomach and fell to his knees. Jessie ran over and placed her hand gently on his shoulder.

"James?" she asked tenderly.

"I'm ok, promise" he whispered losing his grip on consciousness, falling into the black void of comatose.

"I think dat Sleepin' Beauty here is wakin' up" a gruff voice said. The loud noise reverberating uncomfortably in James' recently awaken head. He kept his eyes shut but the flickering light that came through his eye lids told him that Jessie had started a fire. The cool breeze he felt on his face, and curiously his midsection, also told him that it was evening time.

"About damn time James, you've been out for 6 hours now" Jessie's voice called out. No longer able to keep his eyes closed he slowly opened them and was delighted to find a charming scene.

A fire had indeed been started, warming the campsite in a grassy meadow, and it was late evening. The stars and moon were shining brightly helping the fire illuminate the surroundings. Meowth was steadily poking at the fire making sure that it stayed lit and Jessie was quietly rummaging through her bag. She found what she was looking for and walked calmly over to James, who was propped gently against a tree stump sitting up. She kneeled down and smiled sympathically.

"Time to change those bandages now that you're awake." She said holding up their first aid kit. He looked at her quizzically and then she pointed to his waist. He looked down and gasped, it was not a pretty sight.

His current bandages he could only assume started out as being white because now it seemed like every inch of them was dark burgundy colored. They wrapped his entire chest starting at his pectoral region and continuing down to his navel area. He looked back at Jessie, who motioned him to sit up. When he did a rush of sharp pain shot through his abdomen, he gritted his teeth.

"It's moments like these that make me miss Chimecho even more" he said as Jessie began to undo the wrapping revealing the ugly wounds. She winced slightly.

"You know, if you just stop letting Cacnea hug you this wouldn't happen" she said now busily preparing the alcohol swabs to clean his wounds.

"But Jessie, that would break his little heart" he said in his normally whiny tone of voice while smiling coyly. She looked at him with disbelief and then quickly down at the medical debris.

"You idiot, this break mine" she mumbled so that she thought he couldn't hear her.

"What was that Jess?" he asked feigning confusion, she looked up and shook her head.

"Nothing, anyway are you ready for this?" Jessie asked picking up a moistened cotton swab with some tweezers. James took a deep breath, braced himself against the tree stump and nodded.

It felt as though someone had doused him with hot air balloon fuel and then proceeded to set him ablaze with a Moltres. Jessie started with the shallow ones and moved slowly and methodically to the larger ones. Each of the wounds more painful than the last.

"Are we almost done?" He asked through his once again gritted teeth, his eyes were clamped tightly shut.

"Nearly, I'm on the last one. It looks bad James, it's really deep. I think you could use stiches on it" she said. He opened his eyes slowly when he felt the cloth leave his flesh, sighing gratefully.

"Jessie, you know we are broke. We can't afford a hospital visit, I'll just rely on your expert nursing care" he said sweetly. He stared into her blue eyes and she shuddered with excitement but tried not to show it looking quickly down at the roll of gauze. When she looked back at his largest wound, she gasped lightly.

"Here, apply some pressure. It's bleeding a little bit again." She said handing him a cotton pad. He took it and pressed it as gently as he could to his right side. She rolled eyes.

"James, that won't do anything. Hold it like this," she said placing her hand on top of his. She pressed down with moderate pressure. The pain was unbelievable but her cool flesh was extinguishing the fire on his skin. He gazed into her eyes again.

"Thanks Jess," he whispered in her ear. She blushed and got immediately flustered with herself.

"Think you can manage that?" she asked roughly, taking her hand away. He nodded and applied the appropriate amount of pressure. Jessie then busied herself with getting his bandages ready turning her back on him. James winked at Meowth who in turn, threw him a paws up.

James had known for a while that Jessie had deep feelings for him. Feelings going beyond the realm of mere partners or even that of just best friends. No, he knew these were feelings of the romantic inclination, and of course he shared the same infatuation. How could he not? They had been through so much together over a span of 5 years, thick and thin, failures and the ever rare successes. She was always there for him, happy Jess, disgruntled Jess, psychotic Jess, angry Jess, it didn't matter what mood she was in. Just having her there by his side made whatever they did so much better. He closed his eyes and thought back on the day's events.

He had planned on telling her that night how he felt about her. Everything had been going according to his ingenious plan. He had lost the battle, which he had suggested they have, on purpose so that she would be flying high on a win. He had even intended Cacnea to give him a hug, although he did not foresee him hugging him that hard, wounding him that badly. Of course, he hadn't aimed to black out either, but no matter it was all working out in his favor. Jessie was concerned for him and therefore letting her hard emotional exterior down for brief moments of time.

He was just starting to imagine what it would be like when he finally pressed his lips against her ruby red ones when he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to find Jessie mere inches from him looking extremely worried.

"God James, you look so pale right now. I think you've lost too much blood, we need to get you to the hospital right now." She said quietly, Meowth had come over for a closer look too. James looked at his two friends, shook his head and immediately wished he hadn't. It made him extremely dizzy.

"No, just go ahead and bandage me up. I'll be fine, promise" he managed to say smiling. She looked like she was about to argue but just shook her head and grabbed the roll of gauze.

"You need to sit up again, can you do that?" she asked. He nodded, again regretting the action, and with her help, he sat up as gingerly as he could. The move sending waves of more intense pain through his body, the worst yet. She began to wrap him gently but firmly, working her way down slowly. Her fingers were grazing his skin, causing him even more physical pain but effectively lifting his spirits. He decided that the time was right.

"Jessie," he said reaching up and grabbing her hands midway across his stomach, "I love you" he almost whispered. She looked shocked at first but then tears glistened in her eyes.

"James, I-" she stopped midsentence her eyes grew wide and her hands started to tremble. That's sweet, he thought, she is nervous about saying it. He knew it would be difficult for her to say it to him, she rarely let her real emotions show.

"It's ok Jess, I know you love me too. I've known for a while now." He said gazing again into her crystal blue eyes, he was surprised to find they were full of fear. What had he done? Could he possibly be wrong?

"Jimmy, youse just hang on ok? Youse got dat?" Meowth shouted running as fast as he could from the campsite. That was odd, James wondered, why would the feline yell advice at him then run away? He couldn't be bothered with the pokemon's eccentricities right at the moment, he needed to focus on Jessie.

"Jess, what is it? Did I say something wrong?" he asked. Her face was now streaming in tears, she dropped the gauze and pulled James into a tight hug. He smiled briefly thinking that everything was ok now and then frowned. He realized that Jessie wasn't shaking, it was him and he was now on the verge of violently shaking. He looked down and noticed with horror that the large wound had opened up and was bleeding profusely. It also dawned on him that Meowth had run to get some help and that Jessie was scared. This was not in his plan.

"James, don't you dare die on me! Not now! We still have to capture that damn Pikachu and climb the corporate ladder of Team Rocket, and so much more! Oh James" She sobbed holding him close. He grabbed her white jacket on her shoulder and clutched it tight. The motion taking a surprising amount of energy from him.

"Jessie, I'm scared I don't want to die!" He whined, his breath getting more shallow and rapid.

"Meowth will be back! He'll find help! Just hold on," she cried. He started to get very light headed and let his eyes close.

"I'm so very tired," he mumbled weakly as his grip on her shoulder slackened. She shook him awake.

"You can't sleep now, you've lost too much blood. You'd never wake up!" she shouted. He looked at her with fear. She did the only thing she could think of and placed her hand firmly on his wound to slow the bleeding.

"But Jess, I can't help it, I need to…" he trailed off, she wrapped him in a tighter hug with her free hand.

"James, you promised!" She screamed as he once again drifted into the nothingness that unconsciousness graciously provided.

"Meowth, he moved! I think he might be waking up!" A soft but excited whisper came from James' side. He tried to move but found it extremely painful and he also found his movement strangely limited on his left side. It was almost as if he was being held down by something. James decided that to positively access the situation he would have to open his eyes and when he did, he was shocked at what he saw.

They were no longer in the meadow but instead a brightly lit hospital room. He was laying in the bed hooked up to all sorts of monitors, the one for his heart gong at a steady even rhythm. He looked around and saw Meowth curled up in a chair, looking over at him with great relief.

"Well Jimmy-Boy, we was awfully worried about ya," the cat said stretching and yawning. James blinked and looked around for Jessie, only to discover that she was what was holding him down. She was lying beside him in his bed with her head resting gently on his shoulder. She reached up and brushed some hair out of his face, he noticed that her arm was bandaged up at the elbow.

"James, you had me so scared! We almost lost you several times over these last few dreadful days." She said looking into his green eyes. He cleared his throat to find his unused voice.

"What happened?" he asked weakly. She eyes began to shine with tears at the memory of it, she looked over to Meowth who gave her a single nod.

"You blacked out again in the meadow and by the time Meowth got back with help you had completely stopped breathing. I…seriously thought you were dead." She cried. Meowth continued.

"They loaded youse up inta da ambulance and got ya breathin' again. Da doc's decided youse needed surgery and rushed ya right in" he said, jumping from his chair onto the bed at James' feet.

"You were in there for such a long time, finally one of the doctors came out and told us that you had lost far too much blood and if a donor wasn't found, you wouldn't make it" She managed to say through her growing tears. James nodded slowly; he knew where the story most likely went from there.

"Jess here volunteered and they took her back to da operating room. Another long wait for poor, worried Meowth" he sighed. James looked at Jessie and she gave him a weak smile in return.

"You looked worse then you did at camp, even paler then before. I touched your arm and it was like ice. Your lips I remember were so blue. When they got us hooked up, your color didn't come back. I was so nervous." She said.

"How long have I been out?" he asked quietly as Jessie nestled herself closer to him. It gave his heart a flutter and the monitor gave him away. She giggled softly and Meowth just smiled.

"Youse been in a coma for three days now and youse died at least three times, the Doc's here are amazing though. Obviously, youse not dead" the cat said laying his head down at James' feet.

"I died?" he choked, Jessie nodded.

"Yes, heart stopped, no breathing. The last time they nearly gave up on you James, but with that last shock you came back strong!" she said smiling. He looked down at her and was sad.

Her hair was a mess, like she hadn't bothered with it for days. She had no makeup on and her beautiful eyes were tired looking. They were red and puffy from all the tears and had deep bags underneath from lack of sleep. When she smiled at him just then, however, all that didn't matter she was the most gorgeous person.

"Jess, I'm sorry about this, it's my fault. Cacnea wasn't supposed to-" he started to say but she placed her finger gently on his lips to silence him.

"Just shut up and kiss me already" she said smiling again, he smiled back at her and place his hand on her cheek and delicately pulled her towards him. Their lips meet and it was like a shock from Pikachu, even without the ruby red lipstick, her lips her soft and very warm. His heart monitor shot up, and Meowth was beside himself with laughter.

"It's about time, been waiting years for youse two to get on with it already." He sniggered. Jessie and James broke apart and he wrapped his free arm around her.

"Get some sleep now, everything is going to be fine" he said quietly, kissing her forehead as she settled into the bed. She closed her eyes.

"James, I love you" she sighed happily.

"Jessie, I love you too. Promise I always will" he whispered.


End file.
